The Way Things Are

Chapter 3

It was around 9:30 A.M. when we got to the motel. Spencer and I walk in the door, and my dad and Jazmynn are there waiting on the couch. Derek is still in bed, and I wish I was cuddling next to Spencer under the covers in his bed.

"It's time to talk about this whole situation. Who wants to start?" my dad asks with caution in his voice.

"I'll start," I say looking down at the floor. Spencer had his arm around me, and was rubbing my arm, like he was warming me up. "I think that this is ridiculousness. Why can't you just tell me what happened, and how this thing was conceived."

"I'm a human being, not a thing. Thank you very much,' Jazmynn said with an unbelievable amount of attitude in her voice. My dad shot her a look of anger, and of caution to stop being so goddamned annoying.

"Well, I was lonely, and I was drinking too much. That's when I met Jazmynn's mother" my father started off, "I was drunk, and I took her back to my motel room. Things happened, and one thing led to another. And before I knew what I had done, it was too late. 9 months later, I got a phone call from Jazmynn's mother, the girl from that night. She told me that she had a baby girl, and that she thought that it was mine. I took a paternity test, and it turns out that she was mine. I never told you, because I knew that you would react this way."

"That doesn't mean that you couldn't tell me this! I trusted you! And this is how you repay me?! Mom knew that this was going on, but I defended you. I was the one that told mom it wasn't true. I was the one that told her that you were the one for her. That you were loyal! That you were nice, caring, thoughtful, and most of all...that you were the best person in the world! I was there for you when mom wanted to leave you, and this is my thanks. This is what I get, after all of those things that I said for you, and all of the time I put into consoling mom when she thought that you were cheating. Now, now I know that it was mistake helping you. I should've let her leave you when she wanted to. She was like that for more than 3 years." At this point I'm choking back tears, and trying not to wake Derek. He looked so peaceful, then I got a good look at him, and he was crying. You couldn't hear him, but you could see him silently sobbing into his pillow. Now I know why he was never on mom's side. I have a feeling that he knew all along, and never said anything because he wanted dad to stay with us. To protect us, he knows what is out there, but didn't know how to stop it. I get up and sit next to Derek, and he rolls over and looks at me. "Sit up. I wanna talk to you," I say to him. When he sits up, I give him the biggest hug, and he gives me a hug back. "It'll be okay. I promise. I won't let anything happen to us. Trust me," I say to Derek. He's my brother, and I will do anything to keep him with me. He's the one who I really need, and I can never lose my brother. We sit there on the bed together until someone notices us.

"What's wrong?" my dad asks, seeing Derek's tear streaked face.

"It's nothing. I took care of it while you and your daughter were arguing," I say back with a look of pure anger.

"I'm glad to have a sister like you Becky," my brother says to me. "It'a funny. I should be the one saying thinks like this to you. I'm the older one, and your brother. You shouldn't be saying this to me."

"Thanks big bro, it means a lot. I'm glad to have a brother like you," I say back to Derek. "And by the way, I'm the one that left the last time, we don't need you leaving too. I would miss you too much if you were gone." After that, we give each other a hug, and didn't let go until our dad said something.

"Guys, come on. Show some respect to the other people in the room," dad says when we stop hugging each other.

"Hey, we're brother and sister. It's not like we're dating like Becky and Spencer are." Derek says to dad, and we leave it at that. When everything is settled, Spencer and I go back to his house. About 10 minutes after we left, a candy- apple red Mustang shows up behind us. It was my best friend, Samantha. She and I met when Emily introduced us, and became instant best friends.